I have mentioned it several times, but with ThunderCats, I have alway been about the bad guys. Those evil Mutants have always been far more interesting in terms of design to me, when it comes to getting new action figures, the bad dudes are usually my priority. A BIG exception to this is Snowman of Hook Mountain. By Thundera, everything about this guy is just great, and he finally has an action figure to match.
Yes, the bad guys were my crew, but as a kid, I still had a couple of the good guys (and my brother had Jackalman and Ratar-O) to keep things honest. My guys were Panthro and Snowman, he has been just behind Slithe in terms of characters I have been looking forward to in ULTIMATES! I was really glad, and somewhat surprised, when he was announced for series 4 back in late 2020, so I have had a long to consider what was going to eventually come our way. Well, he is the biggest (by far) ThunderCats figures we have gotten so far, and that stature, along with the interpretation from screen to plastic, gives Snowman a day in the sun like has never had.
It is going to be easy to get caught up in the stature of this figure, especially compared to the others in the line. That is impressive to be sure, but there is a lot more going on here. Snowman has had an interesting design adventure in that, for an arctic monkey man, his cartoon costume design was fairly straightforward, but his original action figure was kind of its own thing, much like many from that line not being exact copies of the show. For ULTIMATES! Snowman stays true to his animated roots, but everything has been heightened to fit with the detail of this modern line.
I get it, Mumm-Ra the Ever Living will likely roll into town in a few weeks or so and claim the title of tallest ThunderCats figure, but Snowman is also a WIIIIIIIIIDE boi with the overall build of a brick. The ThunderCats should most certainly be glad to count him as an ally, and if you have the Slithe figure, Snowman’s packaging is upsized like that to accommodate him. I know pictures of the prototype has have been around forever, and you are looking at new pictures of the final product here, but I still didn’t realize how big this dude was until I had the figure in-hand, so the experience is really cool for that.
As I mentioned, the overall design of this ULTIMATES! figure holds true to the foundation of the animated look, but there a lot of textural things that give Snowman the extra “oomph” to make him fit in with the other figures. His head sculpt has a lot of fur patterning and texture to help convey his simian likeness. He has a stoic likeness, and is the only figure in this assortment to not feature an alternate portrait. The fur pieces of his costume are also nicely detailed with both sculpting and paint, and having those details brought out in the collar pieces and the boots really gives him that dressed for the cold weather look, while adding a bit of rustic flair to his design.
For being such big guy, this figure moves remarkably well, and has all of the points of articulation of any other TCats ULTIMATES! offering. His giant ab crunch is a little limited in its forward movement, but the ankles, knees, shoulders, and elbows are actually a bit surprising with how well the move. Snowman can hit some pretty dynamic poses, and that is impressive for a figure this blocky. The hips though, those the big one here. I actually cannot believe how well they move, especially with the side to side range. Now, here is the BIG thing about that: I took a picture of Snowman riding the Masters of the Universe: Revelation Masterverse Battle Cat figure because, yes, I am thinking SNOWMEOW! Now that we have Snowman, we HAVE to have Snowmeow to go with him. So, IF Super7 does decide to offer up this faithful friend, Snowman will have zero trouble sitting atop the giant white cat. I AM READY.
Included with Snowman are three sets of swappable hands (open, grip, and fists), his ice shield, ice spear, and ice lance, as well as his helmet. The latter comes package on the figure, and I think I was still unclear if we were getting two heads (one with the helmet permanently affixed), but this was works great, and it fits well. It does not snap into place, so it just sits on top of the furry collar.
The translucent plastic on the ice weaponry looks very nice, and I am partial to the spear and shield combo. Due to the size of his fingers, you need to have him grip the shield handle and then wrap the handle around his knuckles to get it hold into place. Again, heat those hands up before doing this for sure. Again, the helmet, lance, and shield combo just BEG for us to get a Snowmeow so they can charge into battle together, so by Thundera, I hope that happens!
If you were being nice to me, you would let me say it is a dead-even tie between Monkian and Snowman for my favorite figure of this wave. However, if you were to make me choose… I don’t know how I would go – it keeps changing! That is good problem to have and it speaks to the these figures being some of the very best of the line yet. I know Snowman isn’t likely to be considered a “main” character, but he is a universe builder that makes the display all the more impressive, so do not overlook him. What a, ahem, cool figure!
*Thanks again to Super7 for sending Snowman along for an early preview.
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Source: Fwoosh
